Transcript of the Press Briefing by the Spokesperson of the President of the General Assembly
5 November 2024
The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s briefing
Good afternoon, everyone.
The President of the General Assembly, H.E. Philémon Yang, will convene an informal plenary meeting of the General Assembly tomorrow at 10:00 am in the General Assembly Hall to hear a briefing from Mr. Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) on the situation of the Agency. A note was shared last Thursday.
Plenary meeting
Regarding plenary meetings, the joint debate on the Implementation of the resolutions of the UN and Revitalization of the work of the General Assembly continues today. There is also the debate on the report of the Human Rights Council which resumes.
Additionally, there is a joint debate on the Report of the Economic and Social Council.
A couple of reminders
The High-level meeting to mark the closure of the International Decade for People of African Descent takes place this Friday 8 November.
The PGA is also attending COP29 from 11 to 14 November.
Main Committees
First Committee
On 1 November, the First Committee acted on 24 resolutions under Cluster 1 – nuclear weapons.
Action on draft proposals will continue until Friday 8 November.
Second Committee
The Second Committee entered the third round of informal negotiations on the resolutions. The Committee is scheduled to take action as early as 13 November.
Third Committee
The Third Committee resumed its consideration of agenda item on Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, with statements by member states and presentations of reports by 6 thematic mandate holders and 17 country-specific mandate holders on the situation of human rights.
Fourth Committee
On 1 November, and this is with regard to the Fourth Committee, actions on proposals under the item “International cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space” took place.
The General Debate has started on “Questions relating to information” with actions on proposals expected to take place on 6 November.
This will be followed on 7, 8, 11 November by the introductory statements and General Debate on the “comprehensive review of the whole question of peacekeeping operations in all their aspects”.
Fifth Committee
The fourth week of activities of the Fifth Committee focused mainly on the proposed Programme-Budget for 2025.
During its fifth week of activities, the Committee will hold two formal meetings: the first to take stock of Programme planning letters received from other Main Committees and introduce new topics such as Administration of Justice; the second is to conduct Appointments to fill vacancies in subsidiary organs and other appointments, namely ACABQ, Committee on Contribution, Investments Committee, ICSC and UN Staff Pension Committee.
Sixth Committee
During this week, the Sixth Committee will wrap up its general discussion and take action on draft resolutions on 22 November 2024.
In terms of looking ahead, the President of the General Assembly will convene a high-level meeting to mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on Monday 25 November. A dedicated webpage has been created for this event.
International Days
Today is the World Tsunami Awareness Day. According to the PGA, “This is the 20th anniversary of the devastating Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004 and a grim reminder that though infrequent, tsunamis are deadly. On this World Tsunami Awareness Day, let us pledge to prepare ourselves against such disasters by fostering resilience, particularly across the Global South.”
For GA Resolutions during 79th Session: Visit: https://www.un.org/en/ga/79/resolutions.shtml
Questions:
#1. Just a detail on the UNRWA meeting tomorrow. Since it is an informal meeting, is it just Commissioner Lazzarini speaking or member states can speak afterwards? Is there a list of speakers, how is it going to take place?
Response: There will be a briefing by the Commissioner-General of UNRWA There is no established list of speakers. Member States are invited to press the buzzer when they are ready to speak. And then, of course, if there is a group statement, they would need to go to the Secretariat in order to get that opportunity to speak.
#2. Will there be a time limit for any Member States that want to speak tomorrow at the UNRWA meeting?
Response: Yes, there are 3 minutes for individuals and 5 minutes for the group statement.
#3. On Friday, the Permanent Representative from Türkiye sent a letter, copied it to the PGA. Did he get that letter?
Response: I know the letter you are speaking of but I will need to follow up and get back to you on that.
Full Video: PGA SPOKESPERSON BRIEFING 05 NOV 24 #unrwa #unga79 #plenary – YouTube
Ends
Media Contacts
Sharon Birch, Spokesperson for the President of the General Assembly, Tel: + 212 963 0564, M: +1 646 342 5873, Email: birchs@un.org
Dr. Mariam Shaikh, Adviser/ Social and Digital Media/Media Relations M: +1 917 3614990, mariam.shaikh@un.org
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